Sites
Grotte des Églises
Wikipedia data hasn't been reviewed for accuracy by the Gignos Research Team
- Site type:
- Cave
- Lat/Long:
- 42.82, 1.62
- Country:
- France
The Grotte des Églises is a decorated cave located on the territory of the commune of Ornolac-Ussat-les-Bains in the department of Ariège, in France.
It is not just a simple cave but rather an ensemble of which Les Eglises Inférieures, with an area of 46,500 m2, is the largest. Three entrances give access to it, including the northern entrance presenting a defensive fortification of the spoulga type. The parietal gallery is closed to visitors.
Human occupation in the cave spans from the late Paleolithic period, the Middle Bronze Age and the 13th century, then occupied by hunted Cathars.
Discovered in 1921 and protected by an iron gate, the archaeological site is in a gallery with ochre paintings and engravings. It notably includes representations of horses, ibexes... and figures that are more difficult to interpret. It was excavated in the 19th century by Félix Garrigou and from 1964 until 1977 by Jean Clottes. The cave housed intense butchery.
Archaeologists André Leroi-Gourhan and Antonio Beltran produced divergent analyzes and dates in the 1970s on the paintings in the gallery. The last dating confirms that the site was occupied from the final Magdalenian (12900 years ± 200 AP).